Considering at-home insemination with donor sperm...?

[Nimyra]

Tenleys, most/all of us on here have done at-home insemination. The first 20 pages or so have a lot of details about how we went about doing it.

The down and dirty basics are:
1. track your ovulation using any method you like (or some combination of methods), for example LH surge test strips, OPKs, cervical mucus consistency, temping (taking your basal body temp every morning before getting out of bed). There are lots of details on ovulation prediction in the TTC forums
2. Inseminate the day before ovulation. Some of us inseminated a couple of days before, day before, and/or the day of ovulation. Most people try to inseminate twice a cycle.
3. Have your donor give you a sample (in a clean cup). You'll want to inseminate within an hour of getting the sample, but 15 minutes after getting the sample is probably best
4a. The simplest method is: Using a clean needle-less syringe (like an oral medicine syringe), 5 or 10ml syringe should work fine, suck up the sample, then while lying down, squirt it on your cervix. Wait 30 minutes before getting up.
4b. Other methods include: use syringe to put sperm into a softcup, insert softcup around your cervix
4c. Or buy a cervical cap with stem and follow the directions included.
5. If you want to, you can put a softcup in after inseminating to try to keep the sperm in place. This probably isnt' necessary, but lots of women do it.

That's really all there is to it. Success rates of doing artificial insemination with fresh sperm are the same as having sex. So, roughly 20% chance of success a month, 25% if you are really young (under 20), 15% or so if you are in your 30s, less if you are older.

 

[Nimyra]

As for the screening tests. I can be a worry wort too, I declined the additional testing.

 

[Nimyra]

Okay folks, please post to my thread - lets start a knowledge bank that is easier to read than our enormous support thread.

At-home Insemination - HOW TO and success stories

Ruby, could you edit the very first message in this thread to put a link to that thread... also if you are willing to add a link to this to your signature block that would be helpful!

 

[RubyRainbows]

Erin -- I'm sorry to hear how things went today at your u/s. But glad to hear how wonderful your baby girl is doing!!!!!!!! So many things to worry about during pregnancy! Your doctor sounds great & i am so glad he reassured you & helped put your mind at ease a bit. If there was anything i learned during my pregnancy, it was that i should have enjoyed it more. Stress & worry are certainly not going to help matters... the outcome will be the same regardless... and we will love our children whole-heartedly & unconditionally no matter what! Interesting to hear a different perspective about the quad screen testing. In your case, the neg results are helping to put your mind at ease... so it's great you had it done. I guess it depends on the results of the testing. If someone has it done & it's neg. that is very comforting to know. On the other hand, if it's positive & shows the baby is "at-risk" it makes for a whole different experience....... primarily bc you still don't know with any degree of certainty bc of the high occurrence of false positives. It's a tough choice. I'm not sure if we will get the test done again next time..... my mind is not yet made up either way. Anyhow...... big hugs Erin........ i'm sure everything will turn out well. Are they going to send you to a specialist for level II ultrasounds? I had alot of extra ultrasounds! It sounds very promising that your little girl isn't showing any other markers: length of thigh bones, low muscle tone, small size, missing bridge of nose bone, etc. Sending lots of positive thoughts your way!!

On a side note ------ I went to an appointment with my son today to have him evaluated for speech & when filling out the initial paperwork i listed myself as mom... OH as partner... and left dad as n/a. The receptionist looked at the paper & frowned... then asked me several confused, probing, personal questions... stated that she has never "had this situation before"... then went & whispered about it with someone else... and then came back & said "Please write a short blurb on the paper explaining why you aren't listing dad & explaining your situation so i don't get in trouble for leaving dad's info blank." ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? WTF is wrong with people?!

Emily -- i will now attempt to figure out how to put the link in... lol.

 

[topazicatzbet]

Okay folks, please post to my thread - lets start a knowledge bank that is easier to read than our enormous support thread.

At-home Insemination - HOW TO and success stories

Ruby, could you edit the very first message in this thread to put a link to that thread... also if you are willing to add a link to this to your signature block that would be helpful!

fab idea, will go check it out now.

epdttc - fab new a little girl. it really doesnt sound like you have much to worry about (although i know you still will do, its what mums do)

 

[Nimyra]

Okay folks, please post to my thread - lets start a knowledge bank that is easier to read than our enormous support thread.

At-home Insemination - HOW TO and success stories

Ruby, could you edit the very first message in this thread to put a link to that thread... also if you are willing to add a link to this to your signature block that would be helpful!

fab idea, will go check it out now.

Thanks, Topaz! Your response was great! Very clear and helpful.

 

[LunaBean]

Erin yaye for your girl!

 

[Nimyra]

And, if you want to advertise the how-to thread you can add this (or something similar) to your signature block:

Did you conceive at home using a donor and/or artificial insemination? If so, please contribute to our knowledge bank: https://www.babyandbump.com/assiste...-artificial-insemination-success-stories.html

 

[topazicatzbet]

if you get enough replies the mods might make it a sticky

 

[EpdTTC]

Tammy-I already see a maternal fetal medicine doc because I am high risk with the previous miscarriages, the blood clotting disorder and my "advanced maternal age" (gag). The scan they did was a level 2 scan-they called it an anatomy scan and it was pretty detailed, they looked at and measured all of the organs etc. I don't think he plans on scanning me again for about 6 weeks. My next appointment is in 3 weeks. I'm just trying to stay calm and remind myself of the good stuff and the fact that the odds are in my favor. It's hard but I'm hoping that as more time passes that it will get a little easier.

 

[EpdTTC]

And WTF is wrong with people Ruby? I won't go into my diatribe about how I was going to go on my partner's health insurance but I'd have to switch back to mine after the baby is born because my partner's insurance will cover me but not the baby because the baby is not her biological child.

 

[Nimyra]

unless she does a second parent adoption...

 

[EpdTTC]

Second parent adoptions are not permitted in Ohio!

 

[Nimyra]

no way! that's seriously messed up.

 

[tenleys306]

Tenleys, most/all of us on here have done at-home insemination. The first 20 pages or so have a lot of details about how we went about doing it.

The down and dirty basics are:
1. track your ovulation using any method you like (or some combination of methods), for example LH surge test strips, OPKs, cervical mucus consistency, temping (taking your basal body temp every morning before getting out of bed). There are lots of details on ovulation prediction in the TTC forums
2. Inseminate the day before ovulation. Some of us inseminated a couple of days before, day before, and/or the day of ovulation. Most people try to inseminate twice a cycle.
3. Have your donor give you a sample (in a clean cup). You'll want to inseminate within an hour of getting the sample, but 15 minutes after getting the sample is probably best
4a. The simplest method is: Using a clean needle-less syringe (like an oral medicine syringe), 5 or 10ml syringe should work fine, suck up the sample, then while lying down, squirt it on your cervix. Wait 30 minutes before getting up.
4b. Other methods include: use syringe to put sperm into a softcup, insert softcup around your cervix
4c. Or buy a cervical cap with stem and follow the directions included.
5. If you want to, you can put a softcup in after inseminating to try to keep the sperm in place. This probably isnt' necessary, but lots of women do it.

That's really all there is to it. Success rates of doing artificial insemination with fresh sperm are the same as having sex. So, roughly 20% chance of success a month, 25% if you are really young (under 20), 15% or so if you are in your 30s, less if you are older.

* Thank you so much have you had any sucess with at home? My wife and I are very nervous about trying it this way however our health insurance does not cover anything... I am tracking my ov with the clear blue easy monitor.

 

[lyvian]

Thank you girls for all your wonderful HUGS. They warm me I'm so glad to have you guys.

Erin- AWESOME a little princess!! God Bless your lil familia

Ruby- that was totally messed up in her part. People are such idiots sometimes.

 

[Nimyra]

* Thank you so much have you had any sucess with at home? My wife and I are very nervous about trying it this way however our health insurance does not cover anything... I am tracking my ov with the clear blue easy monitor.

Most of us have had success at home (and many people who used to come on this thread who have gone on to the pregnancy and parenting boards). Some of us are still trying and waiting for BFPs. Some success stories can be found in the thread: At-Home Artificial Insemination with Donor Sperm - HOW TO and success stories

 

[cranberry]

ruby, that woman was beyond rude! i am gay too and the day i encounter that is the day i'm going to go all julia sugarbaker on someone's ass

my anger aside, what did you do?

i've been lurking ladies (background: 7DPO, insem at home last fri and sun and have iui sched later this month if this doesn't work. iui will be supplemented with home insem too)

i fear becoming too obsessive about this thing (it's a slippery slope with me) so i haven't done much. work has been busy enuf as it is.

i have no significant symptoms and whatever i feel i ignore - it's my coping mechanism LOL

 

[mommies1and2]

Thanks so much everyone for sharing your experiences with me. It really helps to hear each of your perspectives!

I talked it over with my OH and we have decided to go ahead with blood work or ultrasound screenings but not to do anything else. We have a niece with Downs so we have a little bit of experience with taking care of a special needs kid, but obviously not the same as being a parent. We've talked about adopting a child with Downs in a few years. Our niece is so amazing and adds so much joy to our family, we would love to adopt and to be able to adopt a child that could be considered "hard to place" would be an extra blessing!

Ruby, sometimes people act that way because they are ignorant and other times they are just assholes. When one of our boys was in middle school his teacher called the house and asked to speak to my partner. I explained that she wasn't home but that as his other mother I'd be happy to talk with her. She acted like it was a completely foreign concept...lesbians?? what's that?? and I knew it was just a ruse. The next day I took her and the guidance counselor each a book titled, "So and so has two mommies" and printed out an article about what it means to be a lesbian. I suggested that she may want to "educate" herself and that the guidance counselor may want to make sure the other teachers were better informed as well. We didn't have any more trouble after that. I hate mean people!

 

[LunaBean]

I'm done girls, 6th loss, it's all in my journal